And looks like he's searching for the kickstart with his damaged leg . . yep that'll get the blood flowing!! Think I'd have asked one of me mates to kick it over, even at risk of being called a 'f*ckin sheila'
Take the photo by all means, but it is almost always better to leave the thing in place until proper medical facilities to stop the bleeding are available.
My mate was lucky I did not have a cold, meaning a clean hanky in the pocket, when his pedal cut him to the bone after falling off and he could easily have bled to death if the bleeding had not been stopped. Quite scary watching the claret flowing freely and making a swift calculation about how much blood the human body holds and how long it would take to empty at that rate, bearing in mind we were several miles from the nearest road, itself half an hours drive to the nearest hospital, and obviously nowhere near anything resembling phone reception. I had stopped at the top of a long descent and pointed out the route, and answered in the affirmative when asked 'Is it dangerous?' so I didn't feel too guilty. With hindsight I have found it safer not to point out hazards to people in advance as they are more likely to crash when forewarned than when they go into potentially dangerous situations blind.
I myself could easily have bled out had someone in the crowd on Simms hill not had in their pocket some tissues which were used to stem the flow from the cut caused by a flying stone to the face.
It is easy to get a bit melodramatic about blood. Like oil or fuel leaks, a little goes a long way, but bleeding is rarely genuinely life threatening.
It is very unlikely that anyone will 'bleed out' from a cut, however deep, unless they are unlucky enough to hit a major blood vessel.
Puncture wounds, however, are a different story.
The point that I was trying to make here is that the puncture wound shown could have threatened 3 major blood vessels - the Anterior and Posterior Tibial Arteries and the Anterior Tibial Vein - any of which could have caused the casualty to bleed to death.
Bottom line - if something is deeply stuck in you, or your mate - it is best stabilised and left in there until you can get to medical help.
A friend did something similar a few years ago when we were a long way from a tarmac road and a similar distance to somewhere we ought to have been.
The same amount of dry softwood branch poking out of a brand new Sidi MX boot and it feeling 'a bit odd'
The first instinct was to get the boot off and assess the puncturing.
Absolutely no thought about calling in helicopters or any other kind of help at that point.
It was a puncture and there was blood but not an emptying out kind of flow so we padded the wound with bog roll and carried on riding.
Seriously, how do you know if its a puncture if you dont assess ?
For me it seemed reasonable to remove the stick and plug the hole ( in the event of a burst pipe) and how do you do that without cutting the boot away from the stick or pulling the stick out through its entry hole ?
Its all very well being an armchair critic and saying what you should have done but a 999 call and a heli response for what we had to deal with was simply not a thought either of us had and realistically nowhere nearby a heli could land or a land ambulance could reach.
Sometimes you have to consider the alternatives and balance risks.
Seriously, how do you know if its a puncture if you dont assess ?
For me it seemed reasonable to remove the stick and plug the hole ( in the event of a burst pipe) and how do you do that without cutting the boot away from the stick or pulling the stick out through its entry hole ?
Its all very well being an armchair critic and saying what you should have done but a 999 call and a heli response for what we had to deal with was simply not a thought either of us had and realistically nowhere nearby a heli could land or a land ambulance could reach.
Sometimes you have to consider the alternatives and balance risks.
cee-b wrote:
Bottom line - if something is deeply stuck in you, or your mate - it is best stabilised and left in there until you can get to medical help.
I'm not sure where the suggestion of a 999 call and a heli response came from???
I will answer your first question with a question (well, 2 questions actually). Why do you feel you need to assess the wound? and what are you going to do about it if it turns out to be 'worst case'?.
Just to be clear about it 'plugging the hole' is not an option with an arterial or venous bleed - certainly not with anything you might have on you on a trail ride unless you carry a very comprehensive First Aid kit. A First Field Dressing might do it; a bit of bog roll won't.
I'm not sure exactly what alternatives were considered in the video clip and what risks were balanced? - the guy simply pulled out the branch.
In your own case, perhaps you did go through that thought process - who knows?. But, realistically, what would you have done if your actions had turned the situation into a serious bleed? Have you got the skills to stop it and retrieve the situation?
A good and universally accepted medical principle is Primum non nocere or "first, do no harm." Another way to say it is: "given an existing problem, it may be better not to do something, or even to do nothing, than to risk causing more harm than good."
I am not trying to get into a pi$$ing contest here, just giving a reasonably informed opinion from someone with 45yrs of First Aid experience including military Combat First Aid.
I do carry a First Field Dressing in my trail riding kit. I do know how to treat a major bleed. I still wouldn't pull out a foreign object that had punctured someone. Primum non nocere.
The dilemma we were presented with was to establish what we were dealing with.
How to know if there was a wound at all ?
The stick goes through the boot.
In removing the boot you have to remove the stick or destroy the boot.
Or you break off / saw off enough of the stick to carry on riding ..... yet do no harm ??
Then what ?
Ride to hospital and let them cut the boot off to discover a deep scratch and some brusing ?
Sometimes doing nothing and going for help brings risk of nightfall / exposure.
In my limited first aid training I was told about the 'golden hour' and how a quick transit to hospital can be a life saver.
When you are out adventuring, I think you have to accept that you are on your own to a much greater extent and factor this.
I am not judging anyone in the original video and my comments regarding calling in helicopters etc were more directed at comments at the bottom of the video, NOT at anyone here. I apologise if thats how it appears.
